The Majority in Parliament has refuted accusations that the government is plotting to recruit 11,000 “thugs and goons” associated with the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) into various security agencies.
These claims, according to the Majority, are unfounded and misrepresent the recruitment processes of the security services.
Responding to an allegation by the Minority, Deputy Majority Whip, Habib Iddrisu, clarified that recruitment into security agencies is the prerogative of the agencies themselves, with the government’s role being limited to facilitation.
“The Ministry of Interior only seeks clearance for the security agencies to recruit people. The Ministry facilitates the process through the Ministry of Finance to get commencement for the recruitment.”
“The police, immigration, fire service, and prison services conduct their advertisements, screenings, and medical checks. The Ministry of Interior does not directly recruit personnel.”
The Deputy Whip explained that contrary to the Minority claims, there is indeed a backlog of applicants from previous recruitment exercises due to limited slots.
“When 50,000 people apply and less than 50,000 are successful, those who qualify but are not selected are part of the backlog. It is not true that there is no backlog,” he stated.
Hon Habib dismissed the assertion that each NPP parliamentary candidate has been allocated 30 recruitment slots, labeling it as baseless.
According to him, the NPP has 275 parliamentary candidates, which if multiplied by 30 slots each by the four security agencies would be 33,000 slots.
“The Chronicle reported 11,000, not 33,000. The figures thrown out by the Minority are, therefore, not true and have no basis,” he stated
According to him, the Minority had attempted previously to investigate security recruitment processes from 2017 to 2022 that were countered by the Majority’s call for such investigations to date back to 1993, which was never pursued by the Minority.
He emphasized the difficulty of advertising limited recruitment opportunities to a large pool of job seekers and stressed the challenge of managing public expectations.
“We understand that many youth in Ghana are looking for jobs. Advertising for 2,000 or 3,000 positions could attract over 100,000 applicants. Many would borrow money to apply, knowing the job opportunities are limited. It is dishonest to create such expectations,” he stated.
Hon Habib reaffirmed that the Ministry of Interior does not dictate recruitment processes to the security agencies, which have their guidelines and criteria for selecting personnel.
The figures and allegations from the Minority, he said, are therefore unfounded and accused the opposition of trying to cause unnecessary political agitation stressing that recruitment into the security agencies follows established protocols and is not influenced by political considerations.